Globalization

December 10 2015

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

The World Trade Organization ruled this week that Canada and Mexico can impose retaliatory tariffs on our exports to their countries to the tune of more than 1 billion dollars per year. This is serious. It can cost pork producers,…

October 15 2015

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by
Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy
and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

We read and hear so much about our weak economy. The stock market is going through a
correction. Well, that is what is going on down on the farm. Not just our farms but European farms
U.S. farmers are looking at a 36% plunge…

September 24 2015

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by
Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm
economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

I have four issues to put on the table today.

The first is Pope Francis’s visit to Cuba. I think his visit will help improve relations
between our two countries. President Obama is moving to reduce business and travel…

April 24 2014

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

We started planting corn this week on our Illinois farm. It is always exciting to begin a new season. A lot of people depend on the U.S. farmer; not only our own citizens, but we export almost 30% of what we produce, feeding people all…

January 30 2014

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

Last year in January, I announced my wish list for 2013. Today, let’s review that list and see how we did.

January 16 2014

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

As complex as the world trading system has become, it still relies on something as simple as trust. Basically, it requires that those who enter into mutually agreed contracts will abide by the terms of those contracts. Unfortunately, in…

January 2 2014

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

Happy New Year. I threw away my 2013 calendar and hung up the new one. There is a lot to get done in the new year. But, today I want to talk about one specific project. We need to modernize our water transportation system. Our locks and…

December 12 2013

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

We should get a farm bill in January. It appears that we now have a budget. That helps because now the Ag Department will know how much money the Department has to spend. Let’s keep the pressure on to get it done.

October 10 2013

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by
Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm
economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

All the talk here in Washington, D.C. is about the risk of default and the concern about
shutting down the government. I’m not going to try to outline the process that will solve this
impasse. However, I do predict that we will…

September 26 2013

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

This week, I was on a panel with three other former Secretaries of Agriculture. The event, sponsored by Croplife, was a lot of fun for those of us on the program and also the audience. Not surprising, the farm bill was in the…